i read. i write. i think. i link.

Month: October 2016

Ray Tensing’s trial for the murder of Sam Dubose starts today. The family reached a $5 million settlement with the university. Ray Tensing still needs to go to jail. The defense is asking for a change of venue, but that hasn’t happened in Hamilton County since 1899.

University of Cincinnati police officer Ray Tensing’s body camera was on when he pulled over Sam DuBose last year for a missing front license plate. From the footage, it is clear that Tensing is asking DuBose for his driver’s license, and DuBose says he doesn’t have it.

Tensing, who is white, then asks DuBose, who was African-American, to get out of the car. The officer starts to open the car door, but DuBose pulls the door closed and moves his hand toward the car’s ignition. Tensing then reaches inside the car as it starts to move. Seconds later, the officer pulls out his gun with his other hand and shoots DuBose in the head.

At what point are we going to acknowledge that police need better training for dealing with mentally or emotionally unstable people in the community? Why is firing a weapon the first option for officers?

A New York police sergeant responding to a call about an “emotionally disturbed person” fatally shot a 66-year-old woman wielding a baseball bat, authorities said.

Police said they were investigating the shooting, including why the officer who responded in the Bronx on Tuesday night fired his gun rather than a Taser.

“The sergeant was armed with a Taser, it was not deployed, and the reason it was not deployed will be part of the investigation and review,” said Assistant Police Chief Larry W. Nikunen.

The woman had a baseball bat. The officer had a Taser and his service firearm which means he had options. The first option should not have been firing a gun at someone who was obviously unstable and possibly unable to even comprehend what they were doing, let alone that the encounter with police could potentially turn deadly.

People who call the police for help with their loved ones are counting on a scary officer with a gun showing up to kill the person they love.

Donald Trump is a disgusting pig. I have seen people asking why all these allegations are just now coming to light. Please don’t do this. Unless you have been sexually assaulted yourself, then you will never understand the pain, shame, and trauma victims suffer in the aftermath. It is at times paralyzing, and makes it hard to want to come forward. In fact, people questioning sexual assault victims and their motives for telling their stories makes it hard to come forward.

Maybe people like you are the reason they don’t come forward.

A Miss Teen USA 2001 contestant told the Guardian today that Trump “deliberately walked in” on her and another contestant in their dressing rooms “while they were naked and getting dressed for a rehearsal”; this report followed a Buzzfeed story alleging that Trump, during the 1997 pageant, intentionally walked into a communal dressing room being used by girls as young as 15. In yet another report from today, CBS News produced a 1992 video from Entertainment Tonight shot at Trump Tower: “In the clip, Trump asks one of the 10-year-old girls if she’s ‘going up the escalator.’ When the girl replies, ‘yeah,’ Trump turns to the camera and says: ‘I am going to be dating her in 10 years. Can you believe it?’”

I love my Chromebook, and I still contend that for the telecommuter on the go, or the student that needs an inexpensive way to do work on campus and off, the Chromebook is the way to go.

Google Drive and its online office suite can now work perfectly happily without a web connection. You can create and edit files, with all the changes getting synced back to the cloud as soon as a connection is restored. That means with Google Docs’ offline support you can use a Chromebook to go and write a novel in a cabin in the woods. You just won’t be able to look up any background facts while you’re there.Unlike Netflix, Google Play Movies does offer downloads for offline viewing, and you do get a few gigabytes of local storage on Chromebooks if it’s media files you’re interested in (there’s always the USB stick or external hard drive option too).

Under the proposed new policy, deadly force could only be used to prevent immediate threat of death or great bodily harm; officers are asked to de-escalate situations and not use force unless “all other reasonable alternatives have been exhausted.”Police would be required to offer medical aid to those injured in use-of-force incidents, and officers would be required to intervene if they see another officer violating department policy.The policy includes the need for independent justification every time a tool such as a stun gun or baton is used in force.

The National Hurricane Center isn’t saying that Matthew will make landfall in Florida, but the cnter of the storm will get very near the Atlantic Coast. As of Wednesday afternoon, the storm was 70 miles south of the Bahamas, and 400 miles from West Palm Beach, Florida.A hurricane warning was in effect for nearly 260 miles along the Interstate 95 corridor, from the northern edge of Miami-Dade county to the Daytona Beach area.

Reports initially said that two sheriff’s deputies had been shot and wounded, but that was later changed to one.The unnamed sheriff’s sergeant was transported Antelope Valley Hospital and listed in grave condition. Lancaster Mayor R. Rex Parris told the LA Times that the sergeant had been shot in the face. He did not name the officer.Students at Antelope Valley College reported hearing the gunshots, and the college issued a shelter-in-place order. Students were advised to avoid the area and wait for further instructions. Other schools in the area were also locked down.

The Genesee County Health Department released a statement(.pdf) noting the increase in shigella, the bacteria that causes the illness, and said that it is spread through a fecal-oral route. This means that the bacteria leaves one person’s body through the stool, and is spread to others through contaminated hands, surfaces, food, or water.Residents of Flint have been relying on bottled water for drinking, but personal hygiene habits have changed in light of the water contamination crisis. Many residents rely on baby wipes, which they are able to get for free at bottled water distribution centers, as a substitute for washing their hands

The 45-second clip, which LAPD posted to its YouTube channel, shows a suspect reported to be Carnell Snell Jr in a shopping center. The young man paces back and forth in front of shops before crouching down behind an SUV. An object believed to be a handgun is removed from his waistband. The young man hesitates, then puts the item back in his waistband and runs along the walkway in front of the shops in the center before turning down a path out of view of the cameras. A few seconds later, an officer can be seen following him on foot.

Officers said they attempted to speak with Walker, but he kept talking over them “in an antagonistic and provocative manner” Officers eventually moved away from Walker and went back to the traffic stop where the passenger in the vehicle, Gary Gregory, 24, was found to have a failure to appear warrant. As police began the arrest of Gregory, Walker and Kushukuru reportedly approached the vehicles involved in the traffic stop.